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KRC Symposium 2025
Agency and Influence: South Korea and Australia Navigating Geopolitical Shifts and Regional Partnerships
KRC Symposium 2025
Agency and Influence: South Korea and Australia Navigating Geopolitical Shifts and Regional Partnerships
The KRC held its 2025 Symposium on 15 August 2025 in the Perth CBD. The symposium brought together a diverse panel of experts to explore current geoeconomic trends—particularly tariffs and energy supply chains and their implications for Australia–ROK relations. Discussions focused on the evolving security landscape, including the reassessment of international partnerships and the rise of minilateral platforms amid shifting geopolitical alliances.
The event featured short presentations and a roundtable Q&A session, broadly grouped under two themes:
Geoeconomic Dynamics and Supply Chains
Australia–Korea Complementary Strengths and Opportunities for Security and Defence Collaboration
The event opened with remarks from Associate Professor Jo Elfving-Hwang, Director of the Korea Research and Engagement Centre; Professor Farida Fozdar, Dean of Global Futures in the Faculty of Humanities; and Ms. Fay Duda, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Korea. The Parliamentary Friends of Korea in the House of Parliament of Western Australia was represented by the Hon Tjorn Sibma MLC.
Speakers included:
Dr Yoon Jung Choi (The Sejong Institute, Seoul)
Dr Naoise McDonagh (Edith Cowan University)
Captain Alastair Cooper (Director, Sea Power Centre, Canberra)
Dr Jay Song (Adjunct Associate Professor, Curtin University)
Dr Alica Kizekova (MCASI, Faculty of Humanities, Curtin University)
Assoc Prof Alexey Muraviev (MCASI, Faculty of Humanities, Curtin University)
The sold-out event hosted in 137 St George’s Terrace brought together different stakeholders, including industry partners from POSCO Australia, and discussants from the WA Defence Review. The event was a particularly notable for its vibrant student participation in discussions during the symposium and networking sessions.
TikTok and Korea Symposium
TikTok and Korea Symposium
9 September 2024
Curtin University (online)
We were pleased partner with the TCRN to co-host this one-day online symposium.
This event featured a Creator Keynote, a TCRN x TikTok Fireside Chat facilitated by Professor Crystal Abidin, a TCRN Showcase, and panels of paper presentations focusing on various aspects of the Korean TikTok cultures.
See the full program here: TikTok Cultures in Korea – TikTok Cultures Research Network
25th Biennial Asian Studies Association of Australia Conference (ASAA)
25th Biennial Asian Studies Association of Australia Conference (ASAA)
Asia Futures: Studies of, in and with Asia
Asia Futures: Studies of, in and with Asia
1-4 July 2024
Curtin University, Bentley Campus
From 1-4 July 2024, the Korea Research & Engagement Centre (KRC), in collaboration with Curtin's Faculty of Humanities, Global Curtin and the School of Media, Creative Arts, and Social Inquiry (MCASI), hosted the 25th Biennial Asian Studies Association of Australia Conference (ASAA) under the theme of “Asia Futures: Studies of, in, and with Asia.”
As the largest gathering of scholars and experts working on Asia in the Southern Hemisphere, this year’s ASAA featured a total of 234 exciting and original academic presentations over four days, as well as a postgraduate training day. Presentations covered a range of disciplines, as well as area studies more generally.
The conference Plenary featured Dr Se-woong Koo of Korea Exposé, who spoke on “Uses and Abuses of Imagined 'Asia': Neo-Orientalist Representations and Role of Higher Education”. The Plenary was opened by Faculty of Humanities Pro Vice Chancellor Professor Richard Blythe with an acknowledgment of Country, and the session was chaired by Faculty of Humanities Dean Global Futures, Professor Farida Fozdar, and reflected the Humanities Future’s platform’s goal to respond to global challenges and opportunities with real-world research. The conference also featured seven other regional plenary speakers, covering topics of interest in the context of China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, as well as South and Southeast Asia more broadly.
The welcome reception included distinguished guests, Consul-General Mr Naito (Consulate of Japan in Perth), Vice-Consul Mr Noel Hara, Consul-General Mrs Listiana Operananta (Consulate of the Republic of Indonesia), Honorary Consul of the Republic of Korea Mrs Fay Duda, Consul Mr Hongtao Chao and Consul Mr Huwei Wang (Consulate of the People’s Republic of China). The event also featured two renowned traditional music performers from Korea: Master Singer Jinsook Choi, a Presidential Prize-winning pansori artist registered to perform UNESCO national tangible heritage pansori songs, and Dr Jocelyn Clark. Additionally, the prize-winning WA Youth Guzheng Ensemble delivered a captivating performance. During the conference dinner, delegates were treated to a traditional Japanese tsukushi-mai dance performance by master dancer Namitoshi Nishiyamamura (Nao Kamei) from Kyushu in Japan.
The Korean Studies Association of Australasia Keynote was delivered by Assoc/Prof Stephen Epstein on the topic of "'Korea', Korean Studies and Global Futures", delivering the audience of Korean Studies scholars a challenge to rethink where the future of Korean studies might look like in the next 30 years.
The conference organisers would like to acknowledge the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS), Asian Studies Association of Australasia and Perth Business Events (BEP) for their support of the conference. The full conference program, and more information, can be found on the ASAA 2024 website: www.asaa2024.org.
The conference would not have been made possible without a dedicated group of volunteers who could be identified in their Curtin jumpers!
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